The first of the four original elements of hip-hop, graff-writing-aka graffiti, is said to have originated in Washington Heights in the late 60’s/70’s. The significance of graffiti to hip-hop culture is tremendous; as it was the cornerstone of inner-city self-expression through art, which is the underlying premise of hip-hop culture.

However, the purpose of nmoh.org, during the pre-construction phase of the Museum, is not to provide a comprehensive history on any of the four elements. Instead, this site means to provide members of hip-hop culture with something that no other website can; an in-depth glimpse into how this element will be represented within the World’s first hip-hop museum.

The following summary is a rendition of current design protocols for the Museum facility. NMoH has published these designs, prematurely, for the purpose of keeping hip-hop fans around the world informed on our development progress, but mostly to encourage comments, questions and suggestions from the visitors of this website. The Board of Governors for the Museum has mandated that we take into serious consideration any and all comments from the public; as we envision this will be the first museum in history to be created by a plethora of suggestions from the public. This will be an institution designed for hip-hop culture, by hip-hop culture.

It is important to realize that the National Museum of Hip-Hop will not be a reproduction of the traditional museum; filled with permanent and temporary exhibits. NMoH will consist of 75% interactive activities and about 25% exhibitions. The Museum Campus will consist of the museum facility, two public parks, an exterior promenade and a separate concert hall for the Hall of Fame. The museum facility will be divided into four elemental departments, a central cafeteria, two public parks and a restaurant/lounge. Each of the four departments represents an element of hip-hop. The Graffiti Department, focusing mainly on fine art, is the largest of the four departments.

This department will be approximately 35,000 square feet by itself, housing four full-sized MTA train car exhibits as well as multiple virtual graffiti walls. The train cars will be situated in a sporadic layout. Each train will represent an era within graffiti history, and the graff writings on the exteriors will reflect the art of its respective era. Eras include 1968-1980, 1981-1991, 1992-2009, and the future art of graffiti as envisioned by various graff writers. Inside the train cars, there will be fully clothed life-sized mannequins, wall advertisements, trash and other subway characteristics, all reflective of the era.

The virtual graffiti walls are comprised of an innovative new technology which combines many characteristics of authentic street graff writing with high-tech virtual reality. NMoH has enlisted some of the top technology companies in the world to develop a spray can that instead of spraying paint, will spray mega pixels that will produce a virtual display on a digital wall, complete with thousands of pantone colors for precision and extremely high resolution screens for the best display possible. Patrons will be able to begin a graffiti project, save it on the NMoH hard disk super server, and return at a later date to continue working on the project via username and password(available to museum members only). Patrons will also be able to access their progress from anywhere in the world via internet connection!

As with every elemental department, the Graffiti Department will offer a full graff-writing workshop as well as U.S. college-accredited art courses. The workshop will give visitors of all ages a chance to learn exactly what it takes to be a real graffiti artist; from materials & tools to technique & application processes and much more. Workshop teachers will consist of some of the top graffiti artists from around the world, as well as fine art professors from the top art schools around the New York Metro area.

The featured contest for the Graffiti Department will be a quarterly experience called “The Graff-Writing Master Competition”. This event will be a competition involving the best graffiti artists around the world, who will showcase their graff writing skills on the surface of one of the full-sized traincars within the Graffiti Department. There will be a total of 4 winners per year. Before the end of each fiscal year, each of the 4 winners’ art will be featured on the NMoH website where enthusiasts from around the world will vote for who will become the World Champion Graff-Master. The champion will have his/her art displayed within the Museum for a period of at least 90 days as well as receive a digital permanent exhibit on the NMoH website. Additionally, the champion will become the official graffiti artist for the annual Hall of Hip-Hop Induction Ceremony that year.

So as you can imagine, the Graffiti Department will have a great deal to offer to its visitors. Besides what has been illustrated here, there are many more features of this department. However, we feel like there are many more that can be developed! This is where you come in. Tell us what you think about our proposed ideas. Tell us what we can do to make them better—whether by additions or subtractions. Tell us how you think we should devise the criteria for graffiti artist Hall of Hip-Hop inductions. Tell us about your favorite graff art from around the world, and why it should be featured within the Museum. We are building this facility for YOU! So we want to hear from you…we are really going to take the dopest suggestions under serious consideration; and any ideas we consider, we will post props for on the website! PEACE.